Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping is one of the many tools employed by the United Nations and other international and regional organizations to help address diverse threats to international peace and security. Since its inception, peacekeeping has contributed to preventing and managing violent conflict between and within States and supporting national actors in protecting and rebuilding peace after conflict. Peacekeeping operations range from large military deployments to small observer forces, from complex integrated missions to specialist police, rule of law and other civilian operations.

In recent years, the number of complex peacekeeping operations has increased and training of peacekeeping personnel in accordance with United Nations standards is a key factor for enabling fulfillment of mission mandates, preventing casualties and ensuring the safety of peacekeepers. Such training is not only under the responsibility of the United Nations, but also of troop- and police-contributing countries. Today, with over 116,440 personnel deployed across 16 missions, the scale of the United Nations’ involvement in peacekeeping is unprecedented and the diversity of mission mandates has stretched the capacity of the Organization to deliver efficiently on all tasks.

In order to meet today’s challenges of future peacekeeping demands, there is a need not only for continued political, military and financial commitment, but also to collectively reform the peacekeeping “tool” to make it more effective. New ways need to be explored for identifying, raising, training, equipping, supporting, and sustaining the civilian, police and military capabilities that modern peacekeeping requires.

Against this backdrop, UNITAR positions itself to advance a capability-driven approach by means of a comprehensive training offer designed to prepare civilian, military and police personnel for deployment in conflict and post-conflict environments.